Christine Amsden's Blog: Christine Amsden Author Blog, page 41
June 1, 2012
Follw Friday: A Match Made in….Definitely Not Heaven
Q: You are a matchmaker — your goal, hook up two characters from two of your favorite books. Who would it be? How do you think it would go?
My first thought is that Harry Dresden (Dresden Files; Jim Butcher) really needs someone after all these books. He’s had a few girlfriends here and there, but none have lasted, and he strikes me as a lasting sort of guy — if you can put up with his dark sense of humor. The trouble is, he’s in danger so much of the time that anyone who stayed with him would run the risk of getting killed, so we’d need a super-tough chick like Mack from Karen Marie Moning’s Fever series…who is, unfortunately, already spoken for. (The guy in question is a bit of an ass, but by the time they get together, so is she….it’s really very good….highly recommend! 
) So what I need is a tough chick who is either not spoken for or is with someone I’d rather she not be with….Hermione Granger? (Sorry Ron, but I’ve never felt it.) Of course, Harry would never put up with her know-it-allness. Or would he? He puts up with Bob. (The talking skull, for those who haven’t read the series.)
Wait, I have it! Never mind Harry, but let’s stick with another character from the same series: Let’s hook up Thomas, an incubus (male succubus) with Belle from Twilight. She likes vampires, right?
For the record, I highly recommend the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, starting at book 3 (the first two aren’t great). As for Twilight…well…we’ve all got our preferences.
(I do believe that answer was just a little bit evil. Didn’t know I had it in me.)
Feel free to follow me through my facebook fan page or twitter account (both get all blog updates).
May 31, 2012
Book Review: Copper Beach
I am often wary of posting cover art for romance novels (even mixed suspense/fantasy romance novels like this one) because of the god-awful covers, but I have to say: I like this one! The colors pop, and the topless man with the ripped muscles looks like he actually has something interesting on his mind besides a (thankfully not present) half-clad woman.
Copper Beach is another paranormal suspense from Jayne Ann Krentz. If you know the author, you know the formula…psychic man meets psychic woman over psychic case of some sort. They solve it while hooking up. This particular one did NOT involve the Arcane Society, which I must confess, was a bonus for me. I was beginning to wonder if somehow the Arcane Society had managed to get every psychic on the planet under their thumb….apparently not.
I’m going to call this one a cozy. It was not challenging in the least, it was fun, and it was familiar. It was like reading something I’ve read before, but for the first time.
If I apply too much logic, I can pick this apart. For one thing, I have not been taken by Krentz’s romantic subplots of late. The psychic powers, far from complicating matters, tend to forge this instant and unbreakable bond between soulmates that rather detracts from the romantic tension. There was never any reason to suppose these two wouldn’t get together, making it feel a lot more like a hookup than an actual romance.
The suspense/mystery element worked well, though, and this is the beginning of a new trilogy, so if you’ve never read Krentz (or Amanda Quick or Jayne Castle) before, this is a good starting point.
I recommend if you’re looking for a quick, suspenseful cozy.
Rating: 3/5
Title: Copper Beach
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
ISBN: 0399157875
Published January 2012
Joining the Site
Apparently, google decided to yank their friend connect list back in March….goes to show how well I stay on top of things! Anyway, I noticed this week, and changed to a linky list, but I lost all my followers! I hope you’ll sign back up, so my site doesn’t look quite so young and unpopular.
New Look and TItle for My Blog
I’ve given my website a facelift. I mentioned a few months ago that the messy desk theme wasn’t really me, but it took me a while to get around to making changes. (You know how these things go. )
I started by changing the title of my web site from “Christine Amsden” to “Into the Dreaming.” For a long time, I’ve wanted a title that captured what I do here, but it took me a while to figure out what, exactly that was. There’s my own writing, obviously, and then reviews of books across multiple genres, and now I’ve added editing services! So, what do I do?
Fiction. Whatever else it is, it’s all fiction. So I came up with the new title, and found a blog theme to match. The entire site is a little cleaner now, and hopefully easier to read. (If not, definitely let me know. I need to know these things!)
May 30, 2012
Tips for Writers: Get a Web Site!
I don’t do a lot of marketing tips for writers, but this is absolutely, positively, marketing 101. You got a book? You want me to read it? Then show me you’re serious, or I’m not going to bother.
I get requests for reviews and tours on a regular basis, and I like to give fresh new writers a chance. I really do. But before I will even consider asking for a free review copy (it still costs me time), I do the following:
1. I look for your web site. If you have one listed in your e-mail, bonus points! If you don’t have one, I’m done.
2. I read the synopsis and decide if the premise sounds entertaining.
3. I look for the first chapter. I am much, much, much more inclined to review a book if I can get a glimpse of chapter one and reassure myself that the writing is professional, and the voice is reasonable. In fact, this is the only thing I’ll say about actual content — put up an excerpt.
Your publisher’s web site doesn’t count. Amazon.com listings don’t count. Yes, I can get summaries at both of these places (although very rarely a chapter summary), but without your own, personal web site, I don’t believe you want it. If you don’t want it, if you’re not hungry for it, you’re never going to get it — success, I mean. Believe me, it’s hard to get a readership when you put out the effort, it’s impossible if you don’t, and as a reviewer I want to recommend books that have a chance in hell of succeeding.
Share and Enjoy:
May 29, 2012
Book Review: Prey
Prey is a romantic suspense set in the wilderness, complete with deadly thunderstorms, a sociopath, and a man-eating bear. Between the weather, the wildlife, and the dark side of humanity, Angie is in a world of trouble.
We begin with Angie, who had made a living taking tour groups (mostly hunters) into the Montana wilderness until Dare Callahan came to town and siphoned off her business. She’s putting her home up for sale to try again somewhere else when she takes one last duo of hunters into the wilderness. She should have quit sooner. Dare will, of course, come to her rescue.
I thought this was okay, but not at all up to Linda Howard’s usual standards. The beginning was long and info-dumpty, and we spent far too much time in the point of view of the sociopath who booked this trip as a convenient way to off his boss before he fled the country with millions of stolen dollars. The romance between Angie and Dare had little to recommend it, and it missed it’s moment. (By which I mean that I was thoroughly ready for them to take their unique survival opportunity to its inevitable conclusion looonnnngggg before it happened. By the time it did, I was bored.)
The bear seemed to be a bit of a sociopath as well, if bears have sociopaths. I guess black bears normally avoid humans, but this one got the taste for them. The scenes with the bear (including a few from the bear’s point of view) were gruesome and vivid, and in a horrifying way, the best parts of the book.
Overall, I don’t really recommend this, at least not until you’ve read all of Linda Howard’s other books.
Title: Prey
Author: Linda Howard
ISBN: 0307577651
Published September 6, 2011
Share and Enjoy:
May 23, 2012
May 21, 2012
Book Review: Changes
I’m just going to cut to the chase here and confess my extreme disappointment in this book, and indeed, in the progression of this “trilogy.” If my review of Intrigues, I said:
The story was slow, tedious, and it involved long descriptions of a made-up sporting event that reminded me of Quiddich (at least in terms of how little I wanted to read long passages about it).
I’m afraid this sums up my impression of Changes as well, especially because the “trilogy” is not yet over. That’s right — there will be a fourth book in this series. A fifth? A sixth? I can’t say, but definitely a fourth.
This series may have lost me. I have been a fan of Mercedes Lackey in the past, but there’s something missing from these books — and I don’t just mean a conclusion. She does tend to spend a lot of time dealing with society, politics, and relationships, and it has never bothered me before. In fact, those are usually some of my favorite parts, but in this series I am not feeling a particular connection to the characters, not even Mags. I did in the first book, when he was rescued from slavery in a mine, but since then he has become someone different, and many of his changes are kind of brushed away by the idea that his companion shielded his mind early on. To me, this feels like it goes beyond the role of the companion (as established in her other books), and it actually makes heralds less interesting. Makes them seem more like a tool of the companions, and less their own people.
The romance in this series is just plain awful. This is yet another thing I normally enjoy in Lackey’s books (except for the fact that she has a horrible tendency to skip important moments in a relationship), but I have no idea why Mags is with Amaline (sp? audio version) nor why Bear is interested in Leena (sp? audio version). All I know is the book tells me it’s so — I don’t feel it in the least.
But despite all that, I might have given this series an overall 3-star “eh, read it if you like Lackey” rating if it had just done one thing for me: ENDED! The end of this book reminds me so forcibly of the end of book 2 that I might as well not have read this at all. The people are still having the same problems, and spinning the same wheels. They learned nothing new about their enemy. At the end of book 2, they capture an agent and he dies before saying a word. At the end of book 3, they capture 2 agents and they die before saying a word. Come to think of it, at the end of book 1 they capture an agent, and he dies without saying a word.
Anyone annoyed yet? I am. I can’t honestly recommend this series any longer, not even to Lackey fans, and I’m not at all sure I will finish. I might *IF* book 4 is really the last book and if I have nothing better to read.
Rating: 1/5
Title: Changes
Author: Mercedes Lackey
ISBN: 0756406927
Published October 2011
Share and Enjoy:
May 9, 2012
Book Review: Intrigues (Collegium #2)
Mags, from Foundation, is still trying to fit in as a Herald’s Trainee, but things go sound when he discovers his deceased parents are something worse than thieves — they’re foreigners! At least, the revelation becomes worse when paired with the murky and completely useless vision of foreseers involving the king, blood, and a foreigner. It’s one of those doesn’t-make-sense-until-it-comes-to-fruition types and even then it reeks of self-fulfillment.
As a follow-up to Foundation, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I found this disappointing. The story was slow, tedious, and it involved long descriptions of a made-up sporting event that reminded me of Quiddich (at least in terms of how little I wanted to read long passages about it). There was a lot of “a day in the life.”
I also found myself unconvinced by a point when Mags’s two best friends turn on him. They said some things, kicked him at a moment when he was down, that I could only imagine an enemy saying.
I am still eager to read the final volume, but on the strength of the first book, not this one. I can’t not recommend this book, because I’m still recommending the trilogy, but don’t get your hopes up. (I type as I get my hopes wayyyy up for the conclusion of this series! )
Rating: 2.5/5
Title: Intrigues
Author: Mercedes Lackey
ISBN: 0756406390
Share and Enjoy:
May 7, 2012
Professional Critiquing Services
As of this month, I have decided to offer professional critiquing services for novelists interested in honest, insightful feedback. As many of you know, I’ve been teaching workshops for the Muse and Savvy Authors for years, but you may not know what I enjoy most about them: I love reading a promising piece of work, identifying underlying issues, and helping the author take their work to the next level. There are times when I even make this connection — to the story or the author — and there’s an Aha! moment. Those moments make my day, and I want to experience more of them.
I did some research on the going rate for critiquing services, and it is justifiably high. Reading a novel takes many hours — reading it with a keen eye takes more. I also know from experience that I can usually find underlying weaknesses in a story early on. I’ve read whole novels where I had to stop myself from noting, chapter after chapter, “And I STILL don’t understand why….” If the foundation isn’t strong, it shows throughout the entire book.
For these two reasons, I decided to offer initial critiques of the first 2k-5k words, plus a short summary. I actually put together three different packages, estimated how long I thought each would take, and put together a price list. (I won’t post them here because I can’t promise they won’t change. You can find them here.)
If you decide you’re interested, then once I send my detailed analysis of the beginning, we can decide if further critique would be useful. I don’t want to speculate publicly about what might make me decide to offer further critique, although I will say that as much as I’d like the extra money, that won’t be my only (or even primary) concern. I have to feel that I can help in some way.
Share and Enjoy:
Christine Amsden Author Blog
- Christine Amsden's profile
- 422 followers
